


Pieces

by purplenighttime



Series: long way home [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Gen, Loss of Identity, Post-TWS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-08
Updated: 2014-04-08
Packaged: 2018-01-18 14:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1431334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplenighttime/pseuds/purplenighttime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Winter Soldier never leaves a target alive. Now that he has, there's too much time to think about all the questions he's never asked. </p><p>He needs answers. </p><p>[SPOILERS for Captain America: The Winter Soldier]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pieces

He walks away. For the first time in his life, he leaves an assignment unfinished.

Not only did he fail, he went and _rescued_ the guy. Captain America. The name triggers something in the back of his mind, but he can’t bring up any memories with it.

He can’t bring up any memories at all.

It never bothered him before. The only thing that mattered was the target, and he’d never let himself get distracted long enough to think about who he might have been  _before_ .

Now, with an incomplete assignment and no one telling him what his next move is, there’s too much time to think about all the questions he’s never asked.

He needs answers.

People are too busy looking at the damage that used to be SHIELD headquarters; no one notices him slip under the barricade that’s been set up around the waterfront.

After neutralizing the target, he would have gone to the rendezvous point, but there are no signs of HYDRA agents anywhere. And he’s failed his mission. Nothing good waits for him back at the HYDRA safehouse, even if there were someone still there.

He knows he has a go bag stored at the park two blocks away, though he doesn’t remember ever being there. The part of him that’s still the Winter Soldier knows he has to get to the package and maintain a low profile so he doesn’t blow his cover.

The part of him that is someone else doesn’t know what to do, so he defers to his training.

He finds the bag easily, though the park is still unfamiliar and he doesn’t know why he’d ever be here. On the top is a set of civilian clothes. He changes in the bathroom – his arm draws enough attention, and he needs to be invisible.

Under the clothes are an assortment of weapons and a few thousand dollars. No cover identities, because he's the Winter Soldier and he doesn’t exist anyway. Or at least he used not to exist.

He sits on a bench, trying desperately to come up with something that isn’t the Winter Soldier. But the only thing he’s got is Captain America and the fact that they might have been friends. Not that it helps much, since he never gets background information on any of the targets. Just an identity and a location.

A woman walks by, holding a young boy by the hand. Without realizing what he’s doing, he checks the woman for weapons or backup. The only thing she’s carrying is a cell phone, probably a can of mace. She’s not a threat; he could neutralize her easily if necessary. The boy would be even easier.

As he thinks this, he hears the boy ask, “Can we go to the Captain America exhibit again?”

There’s the target again, and for a minute he has to force himself not to go back to the Potomac and finish his mission.

But the part of him that isn’t the Winter Soldier hears _Captain America exhibit_ , and for a minute he thinks he might be able to find answers. He knows the layout of the city, knows that the largest museums are on the National Mall. Sticking to side streets and alleys, it’s simple enough to get to the Smithsonian unseen.

He’s lived in the shadows for as long as he can remember, but this – walking around without a mission, without a target – he doesn’t know what to think.

There are banners and signs hung outside the Air and Space Museum advertising the exhibit: “THE FIRST AVENGER – COME SEE HOW HIS STORY BEGAN!" 

As he gets closer he sees the telltale lines that mean a security checkpoint, and he hesitates. The general public might not know who he is, but if there’s any chatter about him on police radio security will know. And the weapons he’s carrying will cause questions.

Instead, he goes back to his training and walks around to the back. As he slips through a door that’s been conveniently left open, he pulls out a knife, ready to silence anyone who’s seen him enter.

The room is empty.

Out in the main museum hall, younger children run around excitedly. The first thing he does is count the security guards – one in each corner, two at each of the STAFF ONLY doors, and four at the main entrance. All of them are carrying a single semi-automatic pistol with no extra magazines. Seventeen rounds each. Easy enough to render unconscious in close quarters or permanently neutralize from a distance. Five exits – the main entrance, main exit and three emergency exits.

As he looks around for any other security measures, he catches sight of an exhibit poster and freezes. At the entrance to the Captain America exhibit is a larger-than-life painting of his target, and it’s familiar.

He knows the face from somewhere other than his mission dossiers and fighting close-range, but he doesn’t know from where. 

Before he realizes what he’s doing, he’s left his corner and walked to the entrance of the exhibit. He stops at the archway, staring at the video that’s projected onto the wall. 

It’s obviously an older film, grainy and black-and-white. In the middle of the frame is Captain America; he’s smiling at someone off-camera. After a minute, someone else steps into the frame.

The newcomer looks even more familiar than the captain, although he can’t figure out why. The memory lapses that come with suspended animation sometimes mean that people seem familiar without him realizing why. But this video is old, and he can’t remember anything that far back.

A hand brushes against his arm, and he’s got a knife in his hand before he realizes it. One of the museum guides, a girl in her mid-twenties – possible martial arts training, take her down quick with a chokehold and snapped neck – smiles at him. “Hey, you look a lot like Bucky Barnes,” she says, pointing over to a more secluded corner of the exhibit.

_Bucky?_

_Who the hell is Bucky?_

_Captain America, in civilian clothes, staring at him in surprise._

The memory floats up, recent, although he doesn’t remember ever having it before.

He walks over to the corner, which consists of a large black-and-white picture and a wall of text. The guide was right – aside from the short hair, he could be looking at a picture of himself.

_Sergeant James “Bucky” Buchanan Barnes was one of Captain Rogers’ closest friends. The two grew up together in Brooklyn, and Barnes was the first of the two to join the Army. Best friends since childhood, Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers were inseparable in both schoolyard and battlefield. The rescue of his unit, the 107 th battalion, is considered to be Captain America’s first official operation. Barnes is the only member of the Howling Commandos to have died in action. None of the remaining members of Captain America’s unit have revealed information about the mission after which he was declared KIA, although Howard Stark suggested in a rare interview that Captain Rogers was hit much harder by his friend’s death than outsiders would guess._

Somehow, even though he can’t remember his name – although maybe it’s James Barnes – or where he’s from, he remembers the train. Remembers seeing Captain America – Steve – going down and grabbing the shield. Remembers falling, down into darkness.

The part of him that isn’t the Winter Soldier grasps onto the name, onto the memory.

James Barnes is still broken, but he’s finding the pieces.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Intended to be the first in a series that takes place after Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Warnings for thoughts of violence (though nothing happens).


End file.
